Xenosaga Wiki:Policy
The Rules These are a simplified version of rules intended to help new contributors familiarize themselves with the subject matter of this wiki. We provide these to save you the time of and energy of having to read all of our policy documents. * Be nice to each other. Assume that others have good intentions, even if you disagree with them. * Be bold. If you're unsure if the edit is appropriate based on the guidelines below, we encourage you to post it anyway. If members of the community disagree with you, try to understand their point of view. If the admins have to step in and resolve the conflict, do not re-introduce material that has been removed without first obtaining permission on the forums. * Articles should mostly consist of facts directly presented by the games or official companion material, such as Xenogears Perfect Works. A measure of freedom is allowed with descriptive text, but the descriptions should not change the actual meaning or intent of the topics they are representing. (see also: Citation, Canon) * Avoid speculation and reinterpretation of facts. If the information cannot be directly cited from a reliable source for that series, it cannot be presented as a fact on this wiki. (also see: Citation, Original Content) * If you feel inclined to roll back a recent change made by a registered editor, please try to discuss the matter on their wall page first. Use our wiki policies where possible to determine if the information in question is appropriate for this wiki. If a consensus cannot be reached, please leave a message on an administrator's wall. * Anonymous edits can be reverted at your discretion if they break any of our content guidelines. * Vandalization of articles is not allowed. Don't do it. This includes intentionally reintroducing material to a page that was removed by the admins. * Do not upload files that you lack the rights to. Screenshots and official character art fall under fair use and are usually fine. Fanart should never be uploaded without the original artist's permission. * Bans exist to enforce policy, not opinions. You are welcome to discuss anything on the forums in a respectful way without fear of being banned. We can't promise that others will agree with you, but we invite you to be honest with your opinions. Subject Matter The focus of this wiki is limited to the Xenosaga and Xenogears game franchises. We understand that calling ourselves the Xenosaga wiki is something of a misnomer. What Xenosaga Wikia is For the curious, the name of this wiki dates back to when the our community was primarily focused on documenting the Xenosaga games as they were actively developed and released. Xenogears content was later allowed as part of our Xenogears Database project and with the intent of being a secondary focus for the site. As the years passed, we continued to acquire a robust amount of Xenogears related content and the Xenosaga series drew to a close. These days there is no longer a reason to prioritize the content of Xenosaga over Xenogears, and for all intents and purposes this is a wiki covering the content of both games. For fact validation purposes we still treat each game as a separate universe with its own unique canon. Is our name misleading? Yes. Is it worth the effort of renaming and rebranding the entire site? Probably not, especially since this wiki does not cover any material outside of those two franchises. Xenoblade The admins of this wiki have chosen to not extend the scope of its subject matter to encompass the Xenoblade franchise. The admins of the Xenoblade wiki beat us to it and we're perfectly okay with that. We maintain a good working relationship with their community, and defer to their editors as subject matter experts for all matters related to Xenoblade. Articles should not be created that cover topics or entities that are only relevent to the Xenoblade franchise. In cases where an entity exists in Xenoblade as well as any of the franchises covered by this wiki, the corresponding article should not go into any specific details (ie, spoilers) about that entity in the Xenoblade universe(s). A link to the corresponding article on the Xenoblade wiki is acceptable as a matter of trivia. What Xenosaga wiki is not The admins of this wiki acknowledge that many of the "Xeno-" games are intended to be siblings in spirit, but for the purposes of fact verification and limiting fan speculation, it is necessary to treat each game series as its own separate entity. Our wiki has historically maintained a separation between the two universes based on quotes from the developers (some examples), but there are other reasons for this: * A significant amount of fan speculation that has crept into our wiki over the years, and there has been no shortage of drama surrounding its handling. * The Xenoblade Wiki has an active community and a significant amount of material for all games of the Xenoblade franchise. There is little value in duplicating the work of their editors. The easiest way to address all of these problems was to make a decision to continue treating each game as a separate universe, and to borrow a move from Wookieepedia and TESWiki; formally adopt Wikipedia's "no original content" policy. As such, Xenosaga Wiki is not a place for detailed articles pertaining to Xenoblade, the detailed analysis of the shared universe of the unofficial "Xeno-" series, fan theories, fan fiction, or any combination thereof. While there are numerous themes, concepts, and game mechanics that are shared between the works of Tetsuya Takahashi, this wiki is only concerned with the canon of Xenosaga and Xenogears as individual intellectual properties. Conduct Xenosaga Wiki should be a friendly environment where editors can collaborate without an excess of drama. The works of fiction that we discuss involve many mature topics, and out of respect for our editors we will not be attempting to enforce a strict PG-13 environment. * Be nice. Be respectful. Assume good intentions. * The occasional casual swearing is permissible, excessive belligerence is not. We will let you know if we feel that you're pushing the boundary of what is tasteful, and ask that you respect any requests to dial it down a bit. * Some of our wiki articles contain mature topics and situations that are relevant within the Xenosaga and Xenogears canon. This does not mean the same is invited of your communication with others unrelated to these topics. If we feel that you are being gross or lewd for the sake of being gross or lewd, it's pretty much a given that you will be asked to stop by an admin. * Avoid sharing your personal information regardless of the reason. We may edit or delete a forum post if we feel that a dangerous amount of personal information has been exposed, but that's about it. We can't protect you from yourself on a full-time basis. * Don't be a creeper. Respect requests by others to not ask questions that make them uncomfortable, don't solicit personal information from others, don't bully others into changing their mind if they refuse to share this information. While we can't protect others from themselves, we can protect them from you, and we have no qualms about doing so. * No slurs. If you have to maliciously bring someone's race, religion, sexuality, etc into the discussion, we frankly don't need or want you here. Consequences In most cases we will offer a polite reminder about the behavior in question before moving on to warnings and bans. We will try to avoid permanent bans for conduct as we understand that everyone has the occasional off day, but reserve the right to permanently ban anyone who is consistently and repeatedly unable to abide by these policies. Bans Bans are usually preceded by formal warnings. Warnings are usually preceded by polite reminders, because admins don't like having to enforce this stuff. The admins reserve the right to skip over reminders and warnings for any act that is deemed sufficiently heinous. A decision to ban someone for poor conduct has no bearing on the factual accuracy of the statements that were being made at the time of the ban. We feel it's possible for a contributor to have a great idea while also being extremely disrespectful of the community in its presentation. If you see that someone has been banned for belligerent behavior but feel that there is merit to continuing their discussion, you are free to do so without concern for being banned yourself. Attributions Xenosaga Wiki does not publish original research or original theories Original research refers to material that is not attributable to a reliable, published source. This includes unpublished facts, arguments, ideas, statements, and neologisms; and any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that appears to advance a position. Material added to articles must be directly and explicitly supported by the cited sources, to keep unneeded speculation down to a minimum. Xenosaga Wiki articles must be based on reliable sources Any in-universe articles for Xenosaga or Xenogears must be based on canonical sources officially licensed by the respective intellectual property holder. For out-of-universe articles and behind the scenes material, the situation is more dubious. Generally, reliable sources are credible published materials with a reliable publication process; their authors are generally regarded as trustworthy or authoritative in relation to the subject at hand. As a rule of thumb, the more people engaged in checking facts, analyzing legal issues, and scrutinizing the writing, the more reliable the publication. How reliable a source is depends on context; what is reliable in one topic may not be in another. Given the very narrow list of published materials that meet these standard for the Xenosaga and Xenogears, Xenosaga Wiki maintains its own curated list of reliable sources. If you identify a source that you feel that we have missed, please feel free to suggest it on the forums. What is original research? Material counts as original research if it: * introduces a theory, speculation, or any other original idea; * defines or introduces new terms (neologisms), or provides new definitions of existing terms; * introduces an argument without citing a reliable source who has made that argument in relation to the topic of the article; or * introduces an analysis or synthesis of published facts, opinions, or arguments without attributing that analysis or synthesis to a reliable source who has published the material in relation to the topic of the article. Note the difference between unsourced material and original research: * Unsourced material is material not yet attributed to a reliable source. * Original research is material that cannot be attributed to a reliable source. The only way to demonstrate that material is not original research is to cite reliable sources that provide information directly related to the topic of the article, and to adhere to what those sources say. What is not original research? Editors may make straightforward mathematical calculations or logical deductions based on fully attributed data that neither change the significance of the data nor require additional assumptions beyond what is in the source. It should be possible for any reader without specialist knowledge to understand the deductions. Reliable sources for Xenosaga * Any game within the Xenosaga trilogy. If a conflict of information presents itself, the game is considered canon. If the games contract each other, the most recent game is considered the canon source of that information. * Any information provided by Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga when they are speaking specifically about the Xenosaga series. The quote must be properly in context for this to apply. If a contradicting quote can also be identified, both are considered void. * Official game documents, such as Xenosaga: Official Design Materials, or Perfect Guide. It should be noted that since these do not have official translations, if there is a conflict of information between the games and these documents, the games are considered correct. Reliable sources for Xenogears * The game itself. If a conflict of information presents itself, the game is considered canon. * Any information provided by Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga when they are speaking specifically about Xenogears. The quote must be properly in context for this to apply. If a contradicting quote can also be identified, both are considered void. * Xenogears Perfect Works. If there is a conflict of information between the game and Perfect Works, the game is considered correct. It should be noted that this book does not have a official translation, if there is a conflict of information between the games and these documents, the games are considered correct. Unreliable sources These sources cannot be used as sources of canon information. * Fans. I mean, we're fans too, but when a fact is in question we need to be able to cite it directly from one of the games or their companion materials. * Any information not presented to the public by a reliable source, but extracted from a reliable source by a fan. This primarily concerns data mining, as it is not possible to correctly interpret the intended context of undisclosed information that was obtained in this way. Even though this information was extracted from a reliable source (the game), that content was purposefully withheld by its authors and is absent of their intended context. Since it is not possible to interpret the context of data mined materials without speculation, it falls within the scope of original research. Canon Test Putting the above principles into practice, the canon status of a detail on the wiki can usually be confirmed by asking the following questions: * Does the fact come from one of the reliable sources for the game(s) in question? * Can the fact be backed up by direct citation of those sources? * Can the fact be asserted without relying on original research? If the answer to any of these questions is no, the fact an editor is attempting to introduce cannot be considered canon within the guidelines of this wiki. Neutral point of view NPOV (Neutral Point Of View) is a fundamental Xenosaga Wiki principle which states that all articles must be written from a neutral point of view, representing views fairly and without bias. This includes real-world articles, in-universe articles, reader-facing templates, and categories. Neutral point of view is one of Xenosaga Wiki's two content policies—the other being verifiability. The neutral point of view The neutral point of view is a means of dealing with conflicting views. The policy requires that, where there are or have been conflicting views, these should be presented fairly, but not asserted. All significant points of view are presented, not just the most popular one. It should not be asserted that the most popular view or some sort of intermediate view among the different views is the correct one. Readers are left to form their own opinions. As the name suggests, the neutral point of view is a point of view, not the absence or elimination of viewpoints. It is a point of view that is neutral—that is neither sympathetic nor in opposition to its subject. Debates are described, represented, and characterized, but not engaged in. Background is provided on who believes what and why, and which view is more popular. Detailed articles might also contain the mutual evaluations of each viewpoint, but studiously refrain from stating which is better. One can think of unbiased writing as the cold, fair, analytical description of all relevant sides of a debate. When bias towards one particular point of view can be detected the article needs to be fixed. Fairness and sympathetic tone If we're going to characterize disputes fairly, we should present competing views with a consistently positive, sympathetic tone. Many articles end up as partisan commentary even while presenting both points of view. Even when a topic is presented in terms of facts rather than opinion, an article can still radiate an implied stance through either selection of which facts to present, or more subtly their organization—for instance, refuting opposing views as one goes along makes them look a lot worse than collecting them in an opinions-of-opponents section. We should, instead, write articles with the tone that all positions presented are at least plausible, bearing in mind the important qualification about extreme minority views. Let's present all significant, competing views sympathetically. We can write with the attitude that such-and-such is a good idea, except that, in the view of some detractors, the supporters of said view overlooked such-and-such a detail. Category:Xenosaga Wiki